I have been a customer since I moved to New York City in 1972, and I have never felt so horrible about your company, your policies, and your customer service. If I could afford to, I would switch in a New York minute, but unfortunately all the alternatives are more expensive than what I’ve got with you: DSL and a Basic Budget line.

In the last year, I have had numerous problems with my phone service. Over Christmas, I had no service. I missed many calls before I realized the problem: people getting cut off after one ring or a fraction of a ring. The problem was fixed.

Lately I’ve had extraordinarily slow DSL service. I reported the problem about two weeks into it—during your employees’ strike. On August 29, a repair man called, didn’t seem to know where the correct box was, asked me, and I told him I didn’t know. A little while later, he called again and said he would have to cut off my service, the problem was with the central office, and everything would be restored within two hours. When I asked if he’d call me back to verify when my service was restored and that everything was working, he complained that it was too hard to stand in an alley way (where the box was), and he couldn’t, and he was sure the fix would work. Nobody ever called me back that day, but service was restored. The next day, I received a call from Verizon checking my service. I said it was restored. However later in the day, I discovered the problem with the DSL slowness remained.

To make a long story short, I have spent hours on the phone with your representatives. I was given an appointment for Sept. 7, then offered an earlier one, and when I tried to accept it—another half hour on the phone resulting in nothing—I was unable to. I was told I’d be called back and never was.

Concurrent with all this, I received a bill with a new charge for a “change in long distance service.” Last month an online customer service person removed a new charge for long distance service at my request as a “courtesy.” I never asked for long distance service. In fact, when I lost my job and downsized to Basic Budget, I specifically requested an incoming-call-only plan and was told you didn’t have one. (I make all outgoing called via MagicJack.)

This month I received a bill with a charge for $2.75 to remove the service that you decided to charge me for that I had never asked for. When I called to complain and try to have that charge removed, an unhelpful customer service person, who verged on belligerence, told me that according to your records, I had been informed about long distance service when I signed up. Since I specifically had requested NOT to have it, I’m quite sure that this is incorrect. In fact, when I changed to Basic Budget, I interrupted the Verizon representative and said I did NOT want any outgoing service. Your representative told me that’s not what your records show and “We will not/cannot remove the charge.” The End.

I am beyond disgusted with this kind of nickel and diming to charge fees for services that are either not provided or not required. The fact that all this has escalated about a charge of $2.75 is almost funny.

As I researched alternatives to Verizon, I heard from friends on Facebook that “they all suck!” Why don’t you try to be better than the pack? How about trying to be polite, fair, and stopping this ridiculousness the alienates your customers? How about trying to help people who are literally counting nickels and dimes to survive? How about having some kind of awareness of the environment you are operating in?

Other complaints during my history of Verizon service:

Once I was not sent an e-bill, then I was charged a fee for not paying it and told that I was responsible for paying bills whether I received them or not. The penalty was removed as a “courtesy.”

I subsequently opted for paper bills. I have recently (January 2012) been told that I’ve automatically been switched to e-bills, because I pay online. I hope I actually receive them. Although I no longer trust Verizon to ever follow through, so if I don’t, I’ll check.

For years I’ve had intermittent problems with static or electronic noise on the line. Technicians have not been able to fix it. But the noise will disappear for stretches of time. The last time I complained after months of it, I was told there was no problem on the outside line and I’d have to pay for a technician to come to my home. I knew the problem was not my line when it miraculously disappeared, again, in January 2012.

Recently (it’s now 1/15/12) I spent about two hours on the phone with techs in India after my Internet service disappeared, although the DSL line on my new modem was lit. The first time it went down, following the tech’s directions restored it, but he kept me on the phone to try to get me to download web service which would be useless if I cannot get on the Internet. I finally said thanks, but we’ve solved the problem. I was paying for this call on my cell phone. About an hour later the Internet service disappeared again. I spent another hour on my cell to India. The tech couldn’t fix it, said a supervisor would call me back in 24 hours. Later that afternoon, Internet was restored, and shortly after that, I received a robo call from Verizon telling me there was an outage in my area that both Indian techs had assured me was not the case. I wasted hours trying to fix an unfixable problem and getting the runaround.

A couple of days after my Internet service was restored, I got a call from a Verizon survey taker to find out how I felt about the service and the company. When I responded “unreliable, uninterested in helping customers, only interested in making money any which way they can,” and gave them a score of zero for how likely I’d be to recommend them to others, I was asked if I’d be open to someone calling me to investigate my feelings more. “Yes,” I answered. … So far, no call.

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Verizon DSL: Lack of Customer service and Knowledge

Posted by LittleMighty on 07/21/2011

Around May 19th I began having problems with my Verizon DSL internet service. It was going out frequently, and I would only have a connection for brief times during the day. I tried to call their 1800 number for tech support only to begin a journey with no visible end in sight.

I Attempted to call I think, about 6 times during that first week. Only I could never get a representative on the phone. I fought for HOURS trying to nagivate thought the insanity that is their automated service. Pushing buttons and being placed on hold, and the ever dreded DISCONNECTED!!! At one point, the service actually asked me to verify my bank account number so it could send me a check...????

My Husband managed to get through at one point and speak with a representative who went through the whole, "shut it off, wait a few min, turn it back on, reboot, reload" then told him to down load some application and hung up on him. Only we couldn't down load anything because we had no service.

I spent another week fiddling around, shutting off and turning on and unplugging and reconnecting and reloading and booting and reloading and so forth. Periodically trying to get ahold of a representative to no avail.

After the second week with no imporvement in service, I finally got a representative on the phone. I immediately asked for a supervisor. I was placed on hold 3 times and eventually told no supervisor was available and that they would transfer me to 'escalation"

I finally get Dave on the phone in escalation and tell him the situation and that I needed a tech to come to the house. I can hear him typing away and he assures me he can help, no problem. Oh, wait. "Sorry, I can't help you. THis is the wrong department."

I think I may have had a small heart attack at that moment. He transfers me BACK to where I had been previously to someone who did not speak English, who kept telling me to 'calm down and have a cup of coffee" and insisting we go through the whole shut down restart unplug non sense again. finally, I said NO!

I'm not touching anything. I've been doing all this for 2 weeks. I need a tech to come to the house. He refused to send one. This went back and forth and again I asked for a supervisor. AGAIN I had to explain the situation, and asked for a tech. The supervisor told me it was too late to get one there (By this time it was 730 pm) I informed him that wasn't my fault since I had already been on the phone for 3 hours with them and if they would have sent me a tech 3 hours ago like I had asked time wouldn't be an issue. He continued to refuse. Saying they would send one out on Tuesday. (It was Friday)

I gave him a simple choice. Send me one now, or my next call was to the Better Business Bureau.

Need less to say, when I hung up, I got in touch with the BBB.

THen, they called me back. (How stupid) I AGAIN explained the situation and my altimatum. THey again refused to send me a tech any earlier then Tuesday. And when I hung up I contacted the Attorney General.

No one ever showed up or called on Tuesday.

It took about 2 more weeks for anyone to get back to me after I filed the complaints with the BBB and the Attorney General. By this time I was out of state. My Grandmother had gone for Bipass surgery and I was taking care of her. I got a call from -someone, I don't recall who at this point-who told me a tech would be out the next day. I gave them my husbands number, (I believe it was a female) who was home. THey called him and set up a time. The next day came and went. No one showed up no one called.

The following day, someone called to see if the internet was working.(Abdul in Exuctive Appeals) I told them the tech never showed up. Abdul tells me they are going to credit my account for 60 days. And another Tech (Tony the Tech guy) calls and we get him set up for another day. Eventually, Tony the Tech guy gets to the house. I believe the date to be June 17th. A month now since the issues started. A month that I have been being charged for services that I don't have.

So, Tony the Tech guy comes over and tinkers around with this and that and the other thing, and tells my husband all fixed. He says if we have any problems in the future to just save his number and call him back. Well, I get home on the 20th and guess what? Not fixed. Not fixed, and not working.

I call Tony the tech guy back. Tony says there really isn't anything he can do on his end so He'll call his dispatcher and get someone else to come out. (OK) He calls me back about an hour or so later and says someone will be out the following day.

Next day, No one calls, no one shows up.

So I Call Abdul back and tell him what's going on. And Somewhere this Other Tony from some higher Verizon Office gets involved and I call him back too. (But he never returns my calls) THE FOLLOWING DAY Abdul calls me. We get it set up for a tech to come out on the 27th.

Unfortunately, I got mandated at work the night before. (I'm a nurse), got home fell asleep and slept right through the 3 calls from Verizon to verify the Texh guy. (My bad!) When I got up I called Abdul back immediately and explained the situation. He rescheduled the apt for the up coming Monday. (THis was a Friday) OK, fine, no problem. it was my fault.

Monday rolls around. My phone rings at like 805 in the morning, I'm pretty sure I was changing my toddlers poopy diaper at the time and didn't make it to the phone in time. I checked the voice mail when it came through and sure enough it was Verizon calling about the apt and to call back the generric 800 number.

Like Hell I'm calling that number back! That is how this whole mess started in the first place! So, I figured, OK. Well they called me three times on Friday, I'm sure they wll call back. Its only 8am.

Nope. No call back. No one showed up.

THE NEXT DAY I call Abdul back, leave him a message!

OH! I Almost forgot! Abdul, In EXECUTIVE APPEALS HAS A MALFUNCTIONING VOICEMAIL!!!!!! This was the REAL Kicker! His voicemail only works about 1/2 the time. So when Ever I call him, usually, I have to call him 2 or 3 times before I can leave him a message since his voicemail is broken. I TOLD him, twice that it was not functioning properly. It is STILL broken. (a month now, doesn't bode well for me, if they can't even fix the executive's voicemail!) So, The broken voicemail was enough to send me right over the edge!

It always takes him a day or so to call me back (If he calls me back at all, Tony the Important Verizon guy from IDK what department never returns my calls, so I don't call him any more)

Eventually Abdul calls and tells me that they fixed my internet from outside. THey slowed down my speed and did this this and this (I never saw anyone out there, but OK) And now it should be working. This is around July 1st.

Nope. July 2nd the internet is out.

That same day, I get a email from the BBB saying that Verizon has submitted something to them. I go in and look. Entertaining. I was good and annoyed now. It read as follows:

According to company records, Verizon has reduced the DSL speed provisionally to 1.5M. The line is currently testing good, and it is stable. Verizon Tech support is monitoring this line. There is no need of a tech to be dispatched due to the circuit already testing good. The customer has already missed two dispatches. The customer has a direct contact number if any future troubles.

No where in there does it mention the 62 tech guys that WERE SUPPOSED to come out and never called or showed up. How convenient. Direct number? To who? Tony the tech guy? THe guy who couldn't help me and told me someone would be out the next day and never called or showed Up?

So, Of course, I didn't except that. Sent my rebuttal.

Its a Saturday, but I leave a voicemail for Abdul anyway (I had to call him twice before It would work) Tuesday, he calls me back and sets up for a Tech guy to come out on Wed. Tony called me at some point too, and leaves me a voicemail. I try to call him back, get his voicemail....I'm still waiting for him to call me back. I think he is the one who is dealing with the BBB because I got a response back that day saying he had tried to reach me that morning, and AGAIN I responded that I CALLED Him back and was still awaiting his return call..hours later....

Anyway, Kyle the Tech guy came on Wed the 6th. A MONTH AND A HALF (7 weeks) since all this trouble began. He spent about a half an hour outside at the pole. He said it was a MESS up there and he did a TON of stuff...and would still do MORE if this didn't fix the problem.

I have had an internet connection with no breaks in service since then.

However, I logged on to view my bill, and my Credit.

No Credit. In fact, now my bill is over due and there are late fees.

Got a call from Dean at Executive Claims about two weeks ago on a Saturday.. (Not Abdul) I jokingly said at one point, "Boy they are working you hard on a weekend." He responded, "No mam' we work 7 days a week"

So, anyway, he asked how the DSL was working. And I told him I did't want to jinx anything, but at the moment I had no complaints.

I did tell him that While Abdul credited me the 60 days of service a month ago, it still has yet to reflect on my bill and now I am being charged late fees.

He said he'll have Abdul call me on Monday or Tuesday....

Well, Dean, thanks for calling, and all the nothing you just did for me!!!!
I can't even tell you off the top of my head how long this has all been dragging on now. Over 2 months. I'll have to look at a calendar.

I waited around for another week and a half before any one called to address my bill. It was Tony again. It went to my voice mail and I didn't call him back because he never returns my calls. I'll just wait for the response from the BBB.

He claims that my account HAS been credited, but it won't reflect until my July and August bills. Tell me? What sense does that make? My problems were the months of May and June! Those are the bills I haven't paid. And now they have the Nerve to charge me a late fee.

I don't care if I have to open ANOTHER complaint with The BBB I will be refunded that late fee!

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The DSL Upgrade Nightmare

Posted by John on 03/23/2009

WEIRTON, WEST VIRGINIA -- Below is a letter that I wrote to Verizon customer service about my ordeal with getting my service UPGRADED - you would think if I'm going to spend more money that they would get it right. Hope you enjoy!

To whom it may concern:

I have been a Verizon customer in one area or another for 14 years for home service and currently have several Verizon cell phones with my family that we have maintained for around 6 - 8 years. Until this point (March 23, 2009) I have enjoyed outstanding customer service.

On the evening of March 8th or 9th (Iâm not sure) I spoke with someone in the sales department and wanted to upgrade my DSL service from 768k download to the 3Mb download speed. He was very nice and explained everything to me including that my service would be active within 24 hours. The following evening I checked my internet speed and I was still at the slower rate, being a computer tech I restarted my modem and router to no avail. I then called the tech support number and checked on the status of my order. To my disbelief the computer told me I would have to wait until today, March 23, 2009. I then called and spoke with a representative who did her best to assist me and in the end filed a trouble ticket for me. The following day I was notified that my service activation date could not be increased any faster. I accepted this and expected my service to be activated on the 23rd.

The following day I called and spoke with ***** and expressed my dissatisfaction with the service I have received thus far and requested a credit because of the many hours I spent dealing with the broken promise from the sales department and the âstone wallâ of the central office that in their lack of resolution to the matter conveyed this message to me: âWe at the central office donât really care what sales promised to you â It will be activated on March 23rd and may take up till 6PM.â ***** agreed and gave me a credit of $43.98 and told me that I would have to call a toll number (410 954 6260) to the billing department the following day (because the billing department was closed) to request it because he cannot put the credit on himself. The catch on this is that I work during the hours that your billing department is open and I cannot call at that time. Let alone clinging to the hope that person on the other end doesnât make me jump through hoops or do jumping jacks while singing the National Anthem of some country that is the size of Manhattan Island to get the credit promised to me. I have not called yet for the reasonâs I outlined above.

At this point I waited patiently until today March 23, 2009, the second date promised to me that my service will be activated. I get home and test my speed â still at the 768K speed. I did all the techie things of restarting my DSL modem and router. Nothing â just my original service (I even waited until after 6pm, just like the all knowing central office stated). I then called again at 6:30pm and spoke with another representative in your overseas call center whose name I could not get (she said it but I couldnât understand her pronunciation). She did all the testing on the lines and stated that my service was showing that I should be getting my 3MB download. She went through and filed another trouble ticket and forwarded it to the omnipresent central office for review. When it was done I asked to speak with her supervisor. She told me that she had done everything correctly and there was nothing else her supervisor could do to make things go faster and that she was currently in overtime. I again requested a supervisor and after holding she said that at this point she was unable to provide me with a supervisor because her shift was over at 7pm and it was now 7:30pm. She again told me that everything was done properly and that I should have a resolution within 24 to 48 hours. So I thanked her for her effort and we hung up.

I promptly attempted to call back and get someone who would be still on their shift to get me a supervisor. When I connected to an agent, they began to greet me and just before they said their name I was dumped back into the main menu. Be it your phone system had a problem or it was the same representative who just didnât want to deal with me (to my defense I have been in her position previously with AT&T wireless and do not yell or scream at these hard workers because I didnât like it done to me and itâs not their fault, but I am stern but polite in my requests as they are no more that what I was promised) this made me very VERY unhappy.

On my third call this evening I was pleasantly surprised to have a North American call center on the line. The representative was **** and she worked very hard trying to help me. After some more diagnostics she was able to explain to me that for some reason the almighty central office made a mistake and my service most likely had a pointer to both the 768K and the 3MB service and the system defaulted to the slower speed. She also verified that the ticket was correct (which it was) and attempted to try to fix the problem from her end. In the end the ticket stands because there was no way she could fix it. I thanked her for her assistance and asked for a supervisor to express my dissatisfaction and to obtain your address. She graciously obliged and I spoke with *** for a little who also verified the ticket was correct again. I believe that these two reps deserve kudos for their dedication to helping customers, as we both know without me and the hundreds of thousands of other customers like me who bust our humps to make a living so that we can pay your bills so you can have your 6 and 7 figure incomes. All we ask for is customer service reps that actually care and are willing to help us in our time of need, it also really helps when you can speak with someone who has a better grasp of the English language so that the problem can be universally understood.

In conclusion I would first like to apologize for the cheap shots that I have taken through this letter. It was my intention to make you laugh as I am trying to at this point, because if I donât I would most likely die early from holding in stress and frustration. I also want to point out that I am not looking for any additional compensation from you. I feel that my 2 months of my previous DSL charge ($43.98) is sufficient (as long as I receive it), however I am also not opposed to you offering anything additional you may feel appropriate. I would also like to express that I WAS very interested in getting the Verizon FiOS when it became available in my area. However after this ordeal, once I have the service promised to me I am going to keep it that way to avoid all the hassle and just deal with my Cable provider for my TV. I just hope that my letter will inspire whoever reads this to seriously look into having their reps give more realistic timeframes to the customers. Like Scotty did in the Original Star Trek. He would tell Capt. Kirk it would be 2 hours and deliver the repair in under that. Itâs a bad analogy I know but it gets my point across. I thank you for your time spent reading this and hope you got a laugh or two about this, but please know that I am very serious when I tell you that I will no longer recommend your services to family, friends, and customers of the Tech company I work for until I receive acknowledgment that the matters I have outlined here are being dealt with â most importantly the sales department.

Thank You Again

UPDATE 3/25/09

After I wrote this letter and mailed it my service was still not at the 3mb speed. I spoke with over another 8 or so reps and I was told by the Demi-gods who call themselves the Central Office that I can't get the 3mb service because I am too far away from the main office (by a little over 1000 feet - yes I asked and that is accurate if you can trust these people) and that I can only get the 1.5mb service and they would be glad to set that up and still bill me the same amount for the 3mb service. After that I went and called the billing department who verified I got my credit from earlier but that they could not help me with the pricing and would not issue any additional credit. At this point I had given up. I called my cable provider (Comcast) who was very happy to assist me in getting 6mb service for not much more than I was paying for for Verizon at the 3mb. So my recomendation to anyone is tell Verizon to shove it and go a different route.

Please Leave me a comment if you read this - thank you.

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Another in the long line

Posted by Carol on 05/07/2012

Rating: 1/51

For 8 yrs. now we have had Verizon DSL with no voice service. Packet 8 provided our voice line and Verizon was the "dry loop" DSL. On April 18th I spoke to a CS Rep @ Verizon and told them we would be moving as of May 14th. Since our move and the change to the account was after the cut-off date of May 6 we would need to have a voice line along with the DSL to have Verizon service. The Rep said they could "port" my number over and give me local and long distance voice service and keep our DSL. A win/win situation. I told them okay. After all info was given I was to do a 3rd Party Verification. Okay no problem. Or so I thought.

On Monday the 23 of April I was contacted to do ANOTHER 3rd Party Verification as they could not find the one on the 18th.????? So I did another. Called in on April 27 and was told the number was now at Verizon and everything was on track for the installation on May 4th... but I needed to do ANOTHER 3rd Party Verification. Seems they could not find the 1st or 2nd one so I said fine...whatever.

So Friday May 4th gets here and 12 noon comes and goes and no Verizon Tech. I called and they said he was running late, but would call me. Not 5 minutes later he called and said he could not put in the service as there was some problems with the phone number. So I called the main number again and the Rep told me the "ported" number was put on the data line and they would have to assign me a NEW number for my phone. I asked what kind of an idiot (ID 10 T error) puts a voice number on a data line when it was coming over as a voice number. She said she did not know, but I needed to cancel my Packet 8 for them to do anything with the number now that they had it in their possession. I had my other half use his cell to call Packet 8 and cancel our account. I then asked to speak her supervisor and was put on hold for 22 minutes using up most of my cell minutes. I got a fellow in Memphis (her supervisor) and he said "No the number was not on the voice line as she had said it was... it was not even there (VERIZON) at all. AND because it was a VOIP number, Verizon could not get it from Packet 8. Well the original Rep that placed the beginning order knew it was a VOIP number and if there was a problem with it being a VOIP number you would think they would have said something. So I told him the last Rep said I had to cancel my Packet 8 subscription now that Verizon had the number so they (Verizon) could try to move it from DATA to voice. He said "Oh no, if you cancel it we will never be able to get the number." Thankfully my other half had more minutes than I and called Packet 8 back and asked them to reinstate our number and account. "NO PROBLEM... and while we are at it let's give you a FREE month of VOIP SERVICE and A NEW high speed adapter too." And Packet 8 Rep stated that at NO time did they ever receive a request from Verizon to "PORT" the number. So I told the VERIZON REP to just cancel my existing order for voice service, leave the DSL and just do a local voice line even knowing I would have a bill that would be about $20.00 more a month that I what was paying for just DSL. He said he would let me think it over, but would cancel the existing order, but would also have a representative call me at my insistence in 15 minutes. FINE.

I waited to hear from the Rep and after 45 minutes checked my emails and there was one from Verizon... thanking me for my "DOUBLE BUNDLE" Voice and Internet order. The email was timed about 10 minutes after I spoke to the last REP while waiting for the next REP to call me. I called back in and spoke to a very sweet young girl "Martiza" who said she would try to help straighten this mess out and she would call me on MONDAY. Well by mid morning I had not heard from anyone so I called and got CHRIS in Tampa, who was more than happy to look at what the problem was, but I would have to do ANOTHER 3rd Party Verification to get the voice line as none of the previous VERIFICATIONS were showing up. Then as she got into the account she found at the existing order was blocked. AND She could not put any service on our new lot even if she wanted to, as the address was now blocked from any service. She stated she had never even seen something like this before and had no idea who had the authority to block an account, except that it more than likely came down from the executive level. She would try to find out what was going on and call me back with any information she could find. Still waiting...4 hrs. later.

CLEAR COMMUNICATIONS is looking like a good idea right about now as it looks like we will not have any service once they move our house off this lot but I just hate to do a dirty deal to Packet 8 as they have been above board and most accommodating in this whole thing .

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Heavy sigh!!!

Posted by Mommyhead on 04/25/2012

Rating: 2/51

HEMET, CALIFORNIA -- I was a customer of Verizon from early 2007 until April 2012 in Hemet, CA. I had phone and DSL. The phone was just outrageously expensive but was still a cheaper alternative than a cell phone at the time. I had nothing but trouble from both the phone and the DSL. Especially with the DSL which would constantly go down. I mean constantly, every few minutes. Every time I'd call, they'd test and say it was OK. It went so far that I had to contact corporate in NY. They sent me to a special department to handle really bad customer service issues and they were awesome and the problem was fixed.

I then lost my job and had to drop the phone and downgrade the DSL. Even with the downgrade, it cost me $10 more for the DSL because I dropped the bundle. I still saved around $30 a month but the lower speed was horrendous. It took forever to download even the smallest things and every time I'd launch a site, I'd have to refresh several times until finally, it would connect. And it still would go down periodically, too. Way more often than it should (I should mention that during the whole dealing with corporate deal, one of the techs that came out told me that there were dead shorts in all the boxes in the park where I lived and that Verizon was not too interested in fixing any of them because they were pushing Fios). I had to pay for the privilege of this horrible service for another year and a half while I looked for work, mostly because I needed the DSL for job searches and I had already tried the local cable company's internet with even worse results.

I never found a job and I was forced to sell out and move in with family. I canceled my DSL service effective 4/2/12. I stopped the 3/28 payment because it didn't make sense to have to make two payments so close to each other. I decided I would just wait for and pay the final bill. But I still haven't rec'd the final bill. And when I call to inform them that they don't have my new address so they can send me the final bill, they tell me they can't change it because the account's been closed. What?? I can't give them an address to send the final bill to? Really, what? Today I finally got someone who said that since I was signed up to receive my bills online, the address thing shouldn't be an issue. I should be able to still go online and find out what the final charges are but not until 5/2, a full month past the effective cancellation date. The problem there is after a certain amount of time, the online access is canceled, too.

So, they won't take an address to send the final bill to me. And I have to remember to go online and find out what the charges are before they cancel my access. But in the meantime, I'm considered past due. But not past due for what I actually owe. I'm past due for 2 full months as of the 21st even tho they won't tell me what I owe until 5/2. But here's the good news. As long as I remember to go find out the final charges and pay them within two weeks, they won't send me to collections. Yay!

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Horrible and deteriorating landline and DSL service in my area

Posted by guest2008 on 03/04/2012

Rating: 2/51

UNION, NEW JERSEY -- I've been a landline customer forever, signed up for cheapest $15/mo 1Mb DSL in August 2011. I've had problems with landline before, mostly very bad static and I could faintly hear my neighbors (we both use corded phones). Static happened on and off, at times for longer than a month. Before I learned from Verizon static was due to stress on faulty wires outside I had to waste hours on the phone doing automated line tests and troubleshooting. I checked internal phones and wiring and could not find any problems internally. Still hesitated but asked Verizon to send a repair tech. Turned out problem was with the wiring outside. Still get static on the line occasionally. No interference with neighbors.

When first signed up for DSL my speed was around 800Kb. Due to static on the line I could not get 1Mb as advertised and customer service told me anything over 500Kb is acceptable speed and within the range. Line/wires can't handle faster speed. Also DSL disconnected randomly. My new modem was replaced with the same model but disconnect issue was not resolved. CS never offered to inspect the line out on the street until one day CS person told me I'm paying for 1Mb and no reason why I should get less, sent out a tech, again problem was due to faulty external cable. That was taken care of but within a few days DSL disconnected randomly, but only for a few minutes at a time. Lately I've been getting static again and more frequent and longer disconnects. Extremely annoying.

Does Verizon offers better quality service in larger bandwidth plans and tries to get customers who don't necessarily need more bandwidth to sign up for more expensive plans? This is only a temp setup for me. Will dump Verizon DSL and landline as soon as I move out of this area.

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A Letter to Verizon

Posted by Lizzikelleher on 11/24/2010

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- In order to save money, I decided in July to transfer my account from Cablevision to a DirecTV/Verizon package. A decision that I since regretted.

-The Start of Service- I received, as promised, a wireless modem and a CD install disk complete with instructions. I followed the directions and completed the installation successfully. I noticed that my internet was stalling quit severally. The light on the modem, labeled internet was out. This led to the first phone call with the trouble shooting desk. They ran a line diagnosis and sent a signal to the modem. Presto, the light was on and once again I had the internet. I got off the phone with the help desk and resumed my internet activity. Ten minutes later, the light went out and I again called customer service/help desk. Mind you, this is not an easy task. I am passed from department to department and left on hold for several minutes without a representative coming on the line to check on me. At times I felt I was forgotten and I will waste my time on hold forever. After working a full day and only wanting to relax, this ordeal is quite frustrating. Again, a representative made me go through the same steps as before, which included notifying how many lights are on the modem, turning it off, unplugging it, plugging it in, restarting the computer. This of course made the 'internet' light appear and the internet working once again. I again resumed my internet activity and again, 10 minutes later, I was unable to proceed to the next page of a website. The light labeled 'internet' was out again. At this time it was late and upset and too tired to deal with someone that only listens to half of the issues. I turned off the modem and went to bed. The next day, I woke up and I turned on the modem and my computer hoping that I will be able to check my email and to read the news when I got out of the shower. I jumped in the shower and about 45 minutes later, I looked at the modem and the light was on. I was happy and sat at my computer to check my email and read the news. Within 10 minutes, the light was off again.

I made several phone calls to Verizon within several weeks, I was even credited a portion of my bill. I spoke to several customer service representatives, who tried to be helpful and some that are down right rude. I have been hung up on, told that my cord or my computer are the issues. I have gotten so many stories and promises, that I stopped paying attention. Finally, I had a representative inform me that the issue maybe a line problem or a 'hub issue' and schedule someone to come out to have it tested. After making an arrangement for someone to be present at my apartment during the 6-8 hour window, as requested. The outcome; no one ever showed up. I was told that someone was able to gain entrance to the area where the internet cable was and there was no need for someone to be home. That was a wasted day! I am not convinced that anyone came to check the lines, because nothing changed. At this time, I would use my neighbors internet or use my phone. Finally, I realized that all I had to do was restart my modem every time the internet went out. Fine, this was my only option. I was sick of calling customer service. I learned to make due without the internet for personal use mostly. My neighbor's internet connection was rarely reliable because of how far it was from me. I pay for a service from DirecTV for demand movies and T. V that has never used, I was unable to play video games on my Wii online, I was unable to update my daily podcasts on Itunes and stopped returning most personal emails. Now my mother calls me instead of emailing me. Not good!

Please note, my DirecTV guy (the person who installed my service) stated that I should cancel service with Verizon and go back to Cablevision because of the issues I was having. He said that he experienced the same issues and could not take it anymore. He said he had better luck with a a data plane with his cell phone carrier.

Finally, the best thing ever happened for me and cured my internet issues at last. A tornado went through my backyard. Yes, a tornado in Brooklyn, NY. This led to the wires from the building to be pulled off my building. I was 100% without internet for several days, I believe about 10 days. I had to wait for a technician to come to my building and repair the damage. This was after several phone calls. I was hung up on twice, transferred all over the place and at one point was told I was responsible for the repair costs. Finally, I got someone on the phone who wasn't a complete moron or at least cared enough to give the right info. I again set up a time, again I had to arrange someone to be available for a 6-8 hour time window, so the Technician would have access to my apartment. I was told it was mandatory because if no one was here, my internet would not be repaired. I knew from before that I had little chance of someone needing someone home. I did not want to risk it, so my brother was home. No one showed up, but when I got home the internet worked! I no longer had to restart the modem several times an hour, it was still slow, but it was more manageable. The date of the tornado was September 16, 2010, I believe the internet was back up and running around September 27, 2010. I am not 100% sure of these dates, because unfortunately, I did not think I had to take such detail notes when speaking with customer service.

October 24, 2010- I was happy with the service. The internet was working correctly enough (it is slower, but why complain) and I was looking into adding a house line. While online, I realized that I am being charged too much for my bill because someone has failed to bundle my service with DirecTV. We will go over that shortly.

I placed an order to upgrade my internet to a higher speed, because with the home line it was the same price. I also ordered a land-line.

November 4, 2010- I no longer had internet. I made several phone calls, I was hung up on. I was told that a technician removed my DSL as per a work order, I was told that there was an outage in my area, I was told that there are no issues on Verizon's end, it was because of the cords inside my house. (Nothing was moved since everything was first installed.) I had to make several calls, complaining, threatening, begging and pleading for these issues to be fixed. I sent an email through Verizon, did the chat option on the internet. I was left on on hold for 20 minutes at a time. Finally, it was confirmed that the technician did remove the DSL. I am not even sure if that is true, because I was fed so many stories. I was promised a technician visit, which I believe was made but no one knocked on my door, the internet was still out. I was told to leave my box on at all times. I had to make phone calls at work, while on lunch and in the evenings after working a 12 hour day. Finally, I was told that I need special filters, so I ordered filters and waited for them. I installed the filters and the internet still didn't work. I had another appointment which no one showed up for. I was told that I was contacted to confirm this appointment and because I did not respond to this phone call my appointment was canceled. The only phone call I received from Verizon was a prerecorded message thanking me for choosing Verizon. After several more phone calls and restarting the modem and checking the cords, replacing all the cords, buying new splitters my internet was still not working. Again, I made another appointment. They said it was supposed to be for last Friday. No one showed up AGAIN! I was told that there was no need for an appointment because the issue was again at the HUB, but will be contacted later to make an appointment for someone to take a look at the modem.

November 23, 2010.- I received a phone call stating that a technician was on it's way to my apartment. I never made the appointment! The caller had no record of me making this appointment! I told them that no one was home and there was no way for me to leave work for a technician that may or maynot show up in the next few hours. Everyone I know was working or unable to go to Brooklyn and wait for a technician. I asked to speak to a manager, the representative placed me on hold for about 10 minutes then they hung up on me. I then called the âExecutive officeâ to make a formal complaint, I spoke with a rude gentleman that was in a call center in the Midwest, despite the fact I called a 212 number and my office is about 3 miles from the Verizon building. He listened to me for a few minutes as I recount my issues and he asked me I would hold. For the next 15 minutes, I was on a silent hold. Please note, it was about 12:30 pm and I am in the middle of my work day. It is the week of a long weekend and I am slammed. Finally, he came back and said he found someone for me. He then transferred me to a Customer Service Representative, he just transferred to the people I was calling to complain about. Not even a manager. At that moment my boss came into my office for a meeting. Also, the same guy who informed me of the visiting technician called my brother who also informed him that no one will be home. When I came home, there was a tag on my door stating, âSorry we missed you.â That tag is probably the most upsetting. Where were they last Friday when they just didn't show up. I am charged $50.00 if I don't show up for a doctors appointment and I get a late charge if I send out a payment late.

Billing Issues- I signed up with DirecTV and Verizon at the same time. I was supposed to get a my services (both DirecTV and Verizon) at a low price plus a $100.00 giftcard from Verizon to be given after 60 days of service. Several calls to the billing department later, I was told I must have been lied to and there is nothing that can be done. My service was never bundled for the July, August and September bill. I didn't realize this until very recently. Now I am supposed to be on the $84.99 plan. This was Verizon's responsibility to bundle my package as per the most recent Billing Representative I spoke to. On top of that my internet was supposed to be $20 but I was billed $36.00 dollars. Which I was unable to pay because when I went online-it said it was a zero balance and I am never available to call during the day because of my work schedule.

Other People's Issues- Several years, my mother decided to switch from Road Runner to Verizon. She had similar issues. She is again with Roadrunner and vows to never use Verizon high speed ever again.

A few years ago, I had a neighbor in my former building that came over begging to have access to my internet because his was down and he had to email something that was due. He told me how many issues he had with the service. I recall it being Verizon. These issues made me remember that.

I told my friend about Verizon's cheap internet. She decided to sign up with Verizon. She is located in the Soho neighborhood in Manhattan and was having many of the same issue as me. She was almost crying over the frustration she was having with the support and the ongoing issues. We have not talked about it lately, because she has been in California for the last 45 days. I am sure you will get an email from her sooner or later. Maybe she will do a write up about her issues. She is P. R. Manager for Tech companies.

How this has affected me-

This morning I left the house at 8:30 am.Â I have to ride a crowded Subway to a my office and ride a crowded elevator to my cramped office.Â I work non stop until about 8:30.Â I then climb back on the Subway and head home.Â I sometimes don't get home until well past 9pm.Â All I want is to be able to use my computer, download my podcasts, email relatives and follow up with work emails. Instead, I am dealing with Verizon until it is time for me to retire for the evening.Â

This internet is not just for play, often I am stuck doing last minute weekend and evening projects.Â My roommate has to work from home two days a week, my brother is studying for his final exams and his wife is unable to call home to her country without being able to plug into the internet.Â She has not spoken to her relatives via phone for weeks.

Several months ago I had a emergency and an contract needed an additional addendum and needed to be completed right away. Once I completed the contract, I attached it to my email and it would not send. My internet stopped working. I restarted the modem several times to no avail, this is being done as my boss was yelling at me for having such awful internet service. He stated that he needs me to be available and reliable for these kind of situations and I was not convincing him of either because of my internet problems. I had to knock on my neighbor's doors, to try to gain access to their internet, but none of my neighbor's were home. I had to go outside with my laptop to locate an open and unsecured internet access, just so I can send out that contact. My boss was displeased with how long it took, and using the excuse of âVerizon sucksâ is like saying, âMy dog ate my homework.â My boss also suggested that I cancel my contact with you and find a more reliable service.

Over the last several months, this has been a huge inconvenience for me and my brother and his wife. My brother told me not to go with Verizon, now every time it goes down and I am on the phone with Customer Service, he always says, âI told you so.â I have wasted hours on these ridicules issues that could have been taken care of months ago or within one phone call. I have been on the phone with your employees for hours, I have been lied to, ignored and laughed at. I have been so frustrated at times, that I actually cried to a representative because I was just tired. I am still tired. I am tired of being taken advantage of and lied to.

I am a customer of Verizon that has been lost in automated systems and lost internet connections. I have been treated like Verizon is doing me the favor. I pay for a service and I deserve to have that service work. Since the recession, I have made a fraction on what I used to make. Every penny and every minute is important to me because I have less of both. I am the one that is working for twice as hard for half as much.

I am writing this letter in hopes (almost begging for resolution of all these issues.) I want an apology and not a canned response that I am so used to getting from your team. I deserve the same service as everyone else and I deserve to be respected. I entered into a contract with Verizon and I do not feel that Verizon has taken our contractual agreement seriously. I can't believe that this issue has come to this, but I am going to see this through. I want my small consumer voice to be heard and I demand to be acknowledged. I feel that my paying for such service since July is unjust, especially with the time I have put into these issues.

Please note. I will do all that I can do resolve these issues. Please note, this letter will be mailed certified to your office.

Sincerely,

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Hours wasted on Verizon DSL problem -- do they even care?

Posted by jeffpa3791 on 06/14/2010

Do employees at Verizon have 12 hours to sit around the house waiting for a technician who may or may not show up?

Starting from the beginning, when we moved into the apartment, Verizon DSL was the only option for internet service. So they have a captive audience, why try to satisfy them. In addition, we were required to purchase and pay for unwanted Land Line service, not as part of a money-saving bundle, but because we were told that it was technologically necessary. Does anyone know if that is true, or were we just lied to?

DSL service was basically acceptable, with the usual outages and spotty quality, but no major problems. Until last Thursday morning, 6/10/10, when the land-line phone rang. Apparently a technician was working on something and testing the lines. Since that time, our Verizon DSL service has been out and we can hear other people’s conversations on the Verizon land-line.

We called Verizon that morning and went through the hour-long process or being put on hold, transferred, asked to unplug and reboot the modem, etc. Eventually we were told what we already knew, that the problem was on Verizon’s end and we were assured a technician would be out. We waited. And waited. And waited. At 4 PM, we received a text message that a technician had been dispatched. We waited. And waited. And waited.

At 8:30 PM we called, and were told that the problem was at the Central Office, and that no technician was being sent. Umm, couldn’t they have told us that rather than make us wait around?

Meanwhile, we made a new friend, Vijay in India. Apparently Verizon is unable to pay a technician in the U.S. to come solve the problem, but is more than happy to pay Vijay in India to call us every few hours to let us know he cares that our service is down. While it’s always nice to have overseas phone-buddies, we’d really rather just have the service back.

Vijay assured us again that the service would be restored within 24 hours, and that we should call him if it wasn’t.

So when the service was not restored by Friday night, we called Vijay in India. Vijay very politely read us the script that says how sorry he is, but that the appropriate department in the U.S. is closed for the weekend. I’ve never heard of this service model -- since we continue to be billed over the weekend, can’t they schedule technicians over the weekend? But Vijay in India cares and would like to follow up with us the following week. Except that he’s on holiday Monday and Tuesday. But if it’s not fixed by Wednesday, we should call him. It’s good to know Vijay in India cares that much, even if our local service operation doesn’t.

Sunday night, we decided to call again to make sure a technician would be out in the morning. Sadly, caring Vijay was out, but one of his colleagues cheerfully walked us through the same script. Eventually, the realization dawned that a technician needed to fix the problem. So we were told that a technician would be out Monday. And we were then told that we must remain available and ready to immediately answer the door for the technician during the service “window” of 8 AM to 8 PM. How thoughtful of Verizon to let us know that they will not be sending a technician out at 3 AM, although we would actually be home at that time. This is the same thing they said Thursday, and never showed up or let us know.

One wonders why a Technology and Communications company can’t schedule its technicians better, including proving service on the weekends, and can’t even inform customers when the technician visit has been cancelled. Clearly, Verizon just doesn’t care.

Fortunately we’re moving in a few months. One of the first questions to ask about a new neighborhood will be “Who provides internet service here – are there choices other than Verizon?”

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Letter to the CEO

Posted by worleyca on 03/08/2010

Let me tell you a little story, Mr. Seidenberg.

My Verizon business DSL line was disconnected for lack of payment

This happened because, contrary to the billing address I gave the representative who took my order, my bills were sent to the office where the DSL line was installed. This office happened to be in a federal building in Florida. My company has a suite there were we have four people working. This is a temporary facility that has no mailing address. The folks in the mailroom had never heard of my company because our jobsite was the Federal Courthouse across the street from our field office. They sat on the bills or threw them away. There was no reason to be concerned because we assumed the bills were being correctly sent to an address in Tennessee where our AP department resides.

It took 3 weeks to get us back online

I called Verizon and got the usual treatment:

Â· A search for an appropriate phone number that turned out to be incorrect

Â· A bunch of automated messages that had no relationship to my needs

Â· A series of confounded requests to speak to a representative

Â· A representative that put me on perpetual hold so I could start again

Â· Finally a representative that would listen to me but only fed me the line that Verizon was sorry for the apparent mix up but they couldnât reconnect my service until the check showed in the system as being cleared.

It was three weeks until that was resolved. I had to call to get the service turned back up again even though the checks had cleared.

We needed to move offices

Literally 2 weeks later, my project manager tells me there is now space to move into the building across the street where the project is underway. I dread having to call Verizon to get this in the works but I do so and am pleasantly surprised to get a woman who actually seems to want to help me. I explain how I want to move the service across the street. She is pleasant but it takes 3 days to get the new location âprovisionedâ because there is a discrepancy with suite numbers in Verizonâs records regarding the Federal Courthouse. She however was able to get an email into my inbox saying this new order was in place. Another email said I would be seeing a Verizon technician on March 5th which is a Friday. The email said that I could call a number to change that date if it was inconvenient. It was. We have no employees there on Fridays.

I called to change the install date

I called the first time and explained that the technician couldnât do the install on Friday because no one would be there. They rescheduled it for the 8th. It was in the notes in the Verizon database. The 8th was my day.

The next day I get another email, not a bit unlike the first email. It said to expect the technician on the 5th.

I called back to reschedule. Again. The representative assured me that the 8th was in the notes and that I was all set for that day.

I get a call from a technician on the 5th wondering why I am not onsite

Really. I know itâs hard to believe, but the word never got to the guy performing the work. He called me and was confused by the fact that he was supposed to be there on the 8th. He even called me back to verify he needed to be there between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM on the 8th. I told him that was correct. The 8th was my day.

On the 8th, the technician never showed

When I called Verizon (again going through the usual phone gyrations trying to get to the right department and getting put on hold, disconnected, calling back, yada, yada) I was told that my install date is set for the 11th.

Thursday the 11th I am out of town

I pleaded with the representative that a technician needed to be there today to get this accomplished this week. She assured me that âProvisioningâ told her the 11th is the soonest date for install and that a technician couldnât possibly be out today. In all the annoyingly redundant emails I got from yet another automated Verizon service, not one told me the 11th was the real date I would get my service installed. Two or three of the emails warned me that I would be charged $199.00 if I didnât show. None of the emails consoled me into believing I would get a credit if the technician failed to show.

I wish I could say this was an anomaly but I canât

Every experience I have ever had with Verizon has been an unpleasant one. Even the ones where the install occurred on the scheduled day. I will make sure that I exhaust all possible opportunities to get an Internet connection at the many field sites I setup each year from another source before I call Verizon again. You have no grasp on customer service. You have designed your customer-facing systems to insulate your employees from the customer. You have gotten too big and arrogant to care about anything or anyone. With regard to my own finances, I made it my personal quest to never spend another one of my dimes on your company and am glad to say I have kept that promise since 2004 when I dumped my home phone service.

Mr. Seidenberg, I would be ashamed to have my name associated with this company. I can only pray that you will actually see this post and recognize that your company needs to change its ways. I assume, though, like all your customer-facing systems at Verizon, this email address is just another frustrating facade to true customer service.
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Resolution Update 03/21/2010:I am marking this as resolved because I was called the day after I sent the email by a representative from Verizon that wanted to bend over backward to make the situation right for me. I told him my main concerns were for the lack of cutomer=friendly systems to get and disseminate information and he gave me the company line in response. My install was done to my satisfaction, even though erroneous emails and automated phone messages continued to come to me. I only had to call the rep to get them straightened out. This should have confirmed to the rep that my concerns were valid and that their company needed to work on serving the customer. They may never get it right, but my situation was taken care of.

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I will never use Verizon EVER again

Posted by sarsar on 12/28/2009

I do NOT want to take any time out of my life to do this, but what has happened with Verizon is so ludicrious I have to get it off my chest or I will feel insane. I'll try to be brief about the multitude of mishaps:

1) I was offered 3 free months, my bills were over 200 due to not well explained "pro-rating" (on which I DID NOT GET A REFUND ONCE THE INTERNET WAS CANCELLED WITHOUT MY PERMISSION (SEE BELOW)) and other misc. charges

2) I called to find out why the bill was so high, it was not well explained, I agreed to pay the last high bill and was told I'd drop to $70 a month (outrageous) and I'd be at 0 balance

3) went to the website a few weeks later, tried to log in, requested the PIN which never arrives, I see another charge for 225. I call, I ask why I have another 200 charge, am transferred all over, I ask to have my phone line reduced to the minimum amount (which was done properly) and start reasearching net zero and cox. I'm finally told that the horribly done website is out of date and that is an old bill I am looking at, that my account is at 0 balance. I am reassured that the only change to my account is the phone line reduction.

4) note on website: it would not accept an Amex or a Visa gift card, will not allow credits in your account if you try to pay early, and shows out of date info is confusing and asks for a pin which never gets texted

5) a week later I get an email stating my internet has been disonnected (without my permission). I call. I am told a) I must not have paid my bill (apparently their computers are out of date too). that I must reconnect and incur more connection fees and a 12 month contract (my lease will expire before then). I ask for a manager. I am transferred back to the MAIN MENU. I wait, confused, it sends me to the technical dept. I ask for the manager three times, he continues to talk. He gives me a phone number to the CA Verizon. I am transferred properly. I am told that I must re-connect for a new 12 months. I will supposedly only incur a 19 dollar connection fee. I ask if the 175 dollar fee is being applied, he does NOT KNOW.

this is what I KNOW.

I'm now on a Verizon contract which lasts longer than my apt. lease which does not make me happy. IF VERIZON charges me the 175 disconnect fee, I am suing them in small claims court no matter what it costs me.

In my opinion it is unethical to place ANY FEES AT ALL ON MY ACCOUNT for their mess up and their disconnecting my service without reason, without notifying me, and without my requesting it.

IN MY OPINION a good company would have actually offered me something free to recompense for the trouble and mess up.